Author of the Queen City Boys books

crowning acheivement

What cures all my ailments even better than whiskey? Yes, tattoos. Mmmmmmm, tattoos.
Yes, it’s still all red, making the pink not show up well and highlighting those lovely marks from the tape. It’s a teeny fraction of smonsterbite‘s Cory tattoo but it scans exactly as I hear it in my head and it’s mine mine mine mine mine.

It’s the way you always did those little things
That set me up and tore me down
When you raised hell in the Burger King
‘Cause they stopped making those
Cardboard crowns

It’s the way you look in these photographs
I can’t bring myself to throw away
You’re still a rush of color on the tilt-o-whirl
It’s just the background that’s turning gray

Something I needed in that shot
Something I need

Girl I miss your crackerjack heart
And the fake tattoos that say ‘Forever Yours’
I could tear this town apart
Looking for a toy, but that’s not the point
When all I’m after is a simple surprise

It’s the way you taste like a storm
Rolling in across the bed
The way you answer me with those eyes
Speaking volumes about things unsaid
The way your dumbest joke finds a laugh
That’s been welling in my darkest place
Ever since I was an atom or a star
Smiling like I had a face

Just waiting for that stupid joke
Waiting for you

The way you walk out of a room
And leave me wonderin’ what I’m doing there
In the same way just one Northern-bound train
Turned this whole damn town into nowhere

I’m a bit shy of lonesome
Far cry from you

—

Conversation with my sister–

me: I got tattooed by a Modest Mouse listenin’ emo boy today
li’l bug: ahaha modest mouse… the memories
me: I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, “Wow, you’re almost as cool as my 13 year old sister. Almost.”
li’l bug: Wait ten years when I’m dating modest mouse listening, emo tattoo artists
me: Ten? I give you seven.
li’l bug: oh jeez. ahah Dad has decided he likes the Hold Steady…
me: AWESOME! The new album? It’s sooooooo good. See dad really is cool.
li’l bug: yeah… they were being played on KEXP today… along with what might be the funniest thing John In the Morning ever said, “I wish I could have been at Folsom Prison for the Johnny Cash concert, except for I’d have had to be in prison. Before that Ryan Adams with ‘To Be Young.’ Who knows how that guy’s avoided jail time.” I snorted coffee out of my nose .